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After installation, attach the selected MCP integration through Meerkat’s host configuration or live-session API. The host selects its account, resource access and agent permissions.

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Preserve the installed launch

The installer supplies ready/mcp.json and ready/installed.json. Verify the selected installation and keep these files unchanged. For a stdio entry, translate the selected server’s name, exact command, ordered argument strings and optional nonsecret environment values into <context-root>/.rkat/mcp.toml:
The example paths and module are placeholders. Use the actual installer output. The native configuration uses TOML rather than the JSON mcpServers wrapper. This handoff supports stdio command, args and optional env; refuse other fields until their semantics have a supported mapping. In particular, do not drop a cwd requirement, and do not pass literal strings containing ${, which the native TOML loader would expand. The host supplies the minimal process environment. Empty env does not clear inherited variables. Credentials remain with the host; do not paste them into shared configuration or agent messages. Configure account authentication and operation policy through their existing owners.

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Let the native catalog expose tools

Start the configured session with rkat run --wait-for-mcp using the host’s model configuration. This starts an agent; it is not a connection-only probe. Use explicit context, state and user configuration roots when the session must be isolated from other configured servers. For example, after the host supplies an existing model configuration and the required environment, it can run:
These variables are host-selected paths and identifiers. The context root contains the prepared .rkat/mcp.toml; the explicit roots must also expose the host’s intended model configuration. A clean configuration root does not automatically inherit an existing model login from another root. MCP operations are deferred by default. The agent uses tool_catalog_search and tool_catalog_load to inspect the native catalog and load its selected operation schemas. The business tool becomes available at a supported boundary. Budget for search and load as well as the operation itself. These calls discover already connected tools; they do not find or install a new integration. Check the actual catalog, selected schema and operation result. Waiting for connections, seeing a configuration entry, or receiving a successful model response alone does not establish that a particular integration works.

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Add tools to a live session

Meerkat exposes live MCP mutation through its Python SDK and rkat-rpc. Keep the connected client and original session alive while setup finishes. Register setup explicitly with client.mcp_add for the intended session before asking the agent to install anything; the CLI project MCP file is not sufficient to populate this RPC session’s live adapter. After the host validates and authorizes the installed launch, pass that launch to the existing native owner:
The native runtime applies staged operations at a turn boundary. The agent uses catalog search/load before invoking the newly available operation. After the turn boundary, inspect the connection and invoke the selected tool. persisted=False applies the configuration to the live session. Keep the genuine setup server’s identity and catalog stable during this handoff. The server name contributes to native tool provenance. Replacing toolkit-setup with a differently named recovery server can invalidate the original session’s saved visibility, even when both expose some identically named tools. Reopening a setup workspace is not equivalent to keeping its controller alive. Use the documented recovery path for process loss and validate native restoration separately. The generated Connect setup command has a single-use workspace. Preserve its process during this live handoff. For process loss, follow saved-setup recovery instead of restarting that command against the old directory. A recovery connection supplies selected readback and cannot replace the original setup server’s authority or restore installation tools. A connected RPC process supports ordinary sequential turns without keep_alive=True. That option is a separate comms behavior requiring a comms_name; do not enable it merely to keep the Python client open. Select the model, provider and token limit at creation. Runtime-routed continuation does not accept those creation-time overrides on each turn. The immediate MCP response’s persisted value concerns configuration persistence. Do not infer configuration writes or restart readiness from a later lifecycle event’s similarly named field.

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Connect two instances without ambiguous tool names

Distinct server names do not prefix their operation names. If two connections expose search, the native router excludes the colliding routes. After inspecting their actual operations, the host can add an explicit map beneath each server entry:
The other connection could map its search to personal_search. Each map belongs to its own preceding [[servers]] entry. Exposed names must be distinct, 1-64 ASCII letters, digits, underscores or hyphens. Keep the installed command and arguments unchanged. The native catalog-control names tool_catalog_search and tool_catalog_load are reserved. This mapping names a route. It does not filter the other operations, restrict resources, authenticate an account or grant permission. Verify the resulting catalog and apply the host’s actual access policy. See host composition for ownership and local installation for the preceding setup step.